


rentboy apocalypse

by brandywine421



Series: Unfinished AUs of Flail (aka fail) [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2015-12-12
Packaged: 2018-05-06 05:23:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5404616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brandywine421/pseuds/brandywine421
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Oh.  Well this is awkward," Steve said, blinking at his history teacher sitting behind the wheel.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>(Part of a collection of abandoned, but not unloved, fics I will never finish.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	rentboy apocalypse

\- awks -  
  
  
"Oh.  Well this is awkward," Steve said, blinking at his history teacher sitting behind the wheel.  
  
Dr. Banner's eyes went comically wide and Steve wondered if this would end decently enough for him to sketch it later.  "Steve?"  
  
"It's Grant tonight, if you don't mind.  Um.  So I know you're not a cop, but I think there's a conflict of interest here..." Steve started, calculating how fast he could get out of the car and back to base.  
  
"You're - okay.  Um.  Hi.  I thought you were older, I swear," the man blurted out.  
  
Steve relaxed a tick.  "That's really good to hear.  The johns that admit to liking the young ones are definitely the creepiest.  Is it too soon for me to ask you not to say anything?"  
  
Banner studied him, still openly shocked.  "I think we're equally fucked if this gets out.  Let's find a diner and I'll pay for your time and we can work something out."  
  
Steve usually had pretty good instincts and the guy didn't seem like a serial killer.  Yet anyway.  He could eat.  
  
"I had no idea - you're one of my best students and you're always...well-kept," Banner said.  
  
"This isn't a steady thing, only a few times a week, or not at all if I have a good night," Steve admitted.  "I have a place to live but my aunt really doesn't give a damn and my mom's hospice is...really expensive and I still haven't paid off the chemo from when she was supposed to survive."  
  
"Yeah, we're going to talk, kid.  Isn't there some kind of aid she can get?  You aren't responsible for her bills," Mr. Banner said.  
  
"If I want her to have decent accommodations, I am.  The only reason I mentioned that is so you know I'm not doing this for drugs or kicks," Steve said.  
  
Mr. Banner sighed.  "I can't really defend myself.  I spend all day teaching and all night working on my research and every once and a while, emphasis on the 'once' if we're talking this city - I get a date."  
  
"There's nothing wrong with that," Steve pointed out.  He definitely wasn't one to judge.  
  
"It is if you're under eighteen," Banner replied.  
  
"Sixteen is the age of consent in this state."  
  
"Let's delay that conversation for a later time, tonight we're going to talk math and options," Banner said.  
  
  
  
  
  
\- payoff -  
  
Banner felt like he'd tripled his good karma after a few months of helping the kid, every day when he came to school there was a smidge less of a hunch in his shoulders.  
  
His aunt turned out to be a nice lady with a busy job that kept her out of town for weeks at a time, and she trusted Steve to take care of himself.  They didn't mention the night job and Bruce had been relieved to learn that it really had only been for a few months.  
  
His aunt helped by taking over half of his mother's bills and taking out a loan for the leftover so he could pay it back slowly and use the inheritance after her death to pay it off instead of his college fund.  Bruce knew he could find a scholarship for the kid if he decided to go to college, and he would if Bruce had anything to say about it.  
  
But this was the first time Steve had invited him over to see his place.  The rent didn't take up much of the budget and Bruce hoped it wasn't unsafe.  
  
He wasn't expecting to pull up to an abandoned mini-mall.  He wasn't native to Brookton but he recognized the signs of a failed strip mall.  
  
"Please don't tell me you're living in a storage building," Bruce said when he drove through the dilapidated gate that still worked even if it didn't give a ticket.  
  
"Nah, better.  My ex-boyfriend's dad is some kind of mad scientist and he owns the whole place.  He fitted out the gym and the taco place so I have a kitchen and shower and all the furniture ever," Steve beamed.  "I keep an eye on the buildings and he does weird experiments in the left side of the place."  
  
"What kind of experiments would he run in a place like this?" Bruce asked.  This didn't make sense.  
  
Steve shrugged.  "There's a bomb shelter or something underneath.  His wife got mad when he tried to build one under their new Malibu house.  I would introduce you, but he'd probably give you math to check.  He's on this low-tech kick, it's driving Tony nuts."  
  
Bruce froze.  "Steve, are you talking about Howard Stark?"    
  
"Yeah," Steve said easily.  "Tony brought me to dinner a couple of times and his parents are cool.  Don't mention the whole 'broke and desperate' thing, please?  Tony's a brat and he'd take it personal that I didn't ask him for money."  
  
"Why didn't you?"  
  
"I needed help, not a handout," Steve said.  "Tony and I...are complicated.  But this place is awesome, you'll like it.  My friends come over after school and we study together, I have a whole section for an art studio and there are all kinds of computers and gadgets from Tony's experiments.  It didn't start out as an after-school hangout, but I help some of the street kids study for their GED's and then my normal friends started hanging out and it turned into a thing."  
  
"I want to see it," Bruce said, appreciating the kid's excited grin too much to express his reservations.  Yet.  
  
"There's another reason I'm inviting you over, though.  Howard's on this kick about the end of the world and I'm supposed to tag at least five people to bring into the bomb shelter when shit goes down.  If we run into him, just go with it, okay?  He's - he's weird now that Mrs. Stark made him quit drinking," Steve admitted.  
  
"I will agree to be your apocalypse buddy if it'll help him sleep at night," Bruce grinned, following him to the door of the scrapped gym.  He recognized a graffiti mural on the window as Steve's work but it suited the kid with pastel and uplifting scene of a playground.  
  
_"Watch out!  Bingo's on the loose!"_  
  
Steve closed the door again quickly and the slam and clink of 'something' slammed into the glass.  "Tony likes robots but they're as moody as he is."  
  
_"All clear!"_  
  
Steve sighed and opened the door.  "Why is Bingo upstairs?"  
  
Bruce recognized Tony Stark from the tabloids but he was shorter in person.  A small oval robot with spindly legs fidgeted in his hands as he assessed Bruce.  
  
"Because he keeps getting out.  He imprinted on you, fucker," Tony said, holding out the robot for Steve to take.  The thing was barely the size of a shoe but it let out a rumbling whir that sounded suspiciously like a purr when Steve held it close.  
  
"This is Mr. Banner, my mentor," Steve said, skritching the robot's metal chin area like it was a pet.  
  
Tony froze.  "Oh.  You didn't say your sugar daddy was Bruce Banner.  I'm a big fan of your work, I just got the journal today with your theory of - "  
  
"Mentor," Steve interrupted.  "Not 'sugar daddy'.  He's my teacher and you have to be nice."  
  
"Sorry," Tony paused.  Bruce glanced between them.  Definitely seemed complicated.  
  
"Thank you.  Now talk science while I go put my stuff down," Steve said.  
  
The place was a mishmash of scavenged furniture from the defunct businesses but he could see how it had become an 'afterschool hangout'.  There was an area of exercise and game equipment to the left near the window and books were stacked on all the shelves and there were enough to have sorted sections of fiction, textbooks and miscellaneous.  
  
"Dad's going to flip out if you're on his team when the world ends," Tony snickered.  
  
"Steve mentioned that, but I didn't know he was friends with the Starks so I obviously don't know much," Bruce said.  "Your last couple of papers have been more up my alley than your dad's but I'm a fan of both of you."  
  
Tony glanced over his shoulder.  Bingo chirped at Steve through a closed door.  "Dad's having some issues lately.  He might be off the rails, but he's on the right track.  Don't tell Steve.  He checks the math, but he doesn't pay attention to the concepts.  There's some shit going down.  Soon."  
  
He hoped the kid was pranking him but there was something in his eye.  
  
"Why don't you want Steve to know?  Because he won't believe it?" Bruce asked.  
  
Tony shook his head.  "No, he'll overreact and he's finally relaxing a little.  He won't believe it until Mom or his little magic girlfriend tells him."  
  
"He has a magic girlfriend?" Bruce didn't know a lot about magic except that it was dangerous.  
  
"Ex, whatever.  He has this annoying habit of staying friends with his exes.  She'll be here for the citizenship lessons later," Tony muttered.  
  
Steve returned with Bingo rolling excitedly at his heels with a koosh ball in its claw.  "Is he being polite?"  
  
"He's telling me about your girlfriend," Bruce said.  
  
Steve glared at Tony.

**Author's Note:**

> Magic (Wanda), Melodrama (Tony), Apocalypse Madness (Howard), Psychics (Maria Stark), Lust (Steve's a playa) and Genius (Bruce) all come out to play in the unwritten rest of this story. But I really love the idea of lonely!history!teacher!Bruce accidentally picking up one of his students hustling on the corner.


End file.
